[leppr]

I find it difficult to conceive how one could work at/manage a mainstream cryptocurrency company and be racist.

Both empirically (it's the most multicultural tech scene I ever witnessed), and in principles (one of the core tenets of crypto is precisely eliminating discrimination), crypto would be among the most counter productive fields for a racist to spend their time on.

Of course I'm not discounting the fact that humans are often irrational and incoherent, so it seems fair to give the benefit of the doubt to both parties until we have more information.

[adjkant]

I think it's helpful here to examine the conception of a racist. Most racists don't identify as such and have a racist agenda they consciously act on. In these cases, it's baked in through various experiences into the subconscious, and rationalized away in many ways. Maybe it's eugenics, maybe it's media bias, maybe it's simply a personal preference, and they think they don't let it affect their decisions.

> it's the most multicultural tech scene I ever witnessed

Coinbase's own (unrefuted) numbers show they are far worse than other tech companies. Where is your conception based off of?

> one of the core tenets of crypto is precisely eliminating discrimination

As this thread as made clear if you go to the bottom of the comments, stated principles and actual beliefs/actions often don't match in tech. Closeted republicans in tech compared to the leaning of corporate action is a great example of that. In some ways, Coinbase said the quiet part out loud with their apolitical stance. When that happened, tons of people flocked to applaud them, both on HN and in the VC industry. All of this perfectly aligns with finding racism within said company, and the tech industry as a whole.

[leppr]

> Coinbase's own (unrefuted) numbers show they are far worse than other tech companies. Where is your conception based off of?

They are (were?) at 3% vs 6% average, on small absolute numbers. Not great but certainly within margin of forgiveness.

My conception is based on the scene as a whole, which is extremely international. Look at the public personalities in crypto vs. the wider VC tech scene. It's possible Coinbase is a pocket of prejudice, but it would be an exception.

> stated principles and actual beliefs/actions often don't match in tech.

I agree, but this isn't just a principle here, the mechanics of crypto themselves prevent racial, gender, socioeconomic bias. You can't say one thing and do the other when the code is open source and is the main UI. That's the difference with things like big-tech's empty "privacy pledges" for instance, here the bad thing is made actually structurally inconvenient.

[adjkant]

> which is extremely international

Racism against Africans can be found internationally, but in this case we are talking specifically African-Americans. Being international does not mean diverse in this specific way, it just means diverse in terms of nationality. For a good example, as the article and many have highlighted, asian representation is not an issue at Coinbase. Racism isn't generalized but specific to races and cultures. A person can be prejudice to just one category or many categories.

> the mechanics of crypto themselves prevent racial, gender, socioeconomic bias

mechanics and community are not one in the same, and crypto is still plenty susceptible to discrimination for any transactions that begin off-network (most all, humans are social creatures). While the mechanics help a small edge case or two, I don't really see any meaningful difference. What's the real material racism that crypto stops that other forms of payment or speculative trading fall victim to?

[leppr]

You may be right on the first point, I won't speculate. I just wanted to point out that it's unlikely to be something endemic to the space.

> What's the real material racism that crypto stops that other forms of payment or speculative trading fall victim to?

Access to financial services like loans for instance. No human or even AI model to judge you based on external factors.

[adjkant]

> I just wanted to point out that it's unlikely to be something endemic to the space.

I'm still not sure why that would be the case. FWIW I don't suspect it is either, but I don't see any reason it would be more or less than the tech community at large. In this case, Coinbase is reflective not of the subcateogry but of leadership.

> Access to financial services like loans for instance

https://blockfi.com/apply-for-crypto-loan

> Along with our proven KYC/AML process, we review an applicant’s credit history and other information to assess for risk.

This still has all the normal hurdles for a loan. Just because the asset is on a ledger doesn't remove the human factor. Not to mention that a direct collateral backed loan is already very unlikely to get rejected at a traditional financial institution. I didn't find any actual crypto loan options that weren't collateral backed from a quick search. Am I missing other options?

[xenihn]

>All of this perfectly aligns with finding racism within said company, and the tech industry as a whole.

I don't understanding why you're stopping at the tech industry when it's a problem in every other industry too. I'd go so far as to say it's a problem that permeates every industry in the entire world.

[adjkant]

All of this is within the context of the "apolitical" statement by Coinbase and those who engaged with the post, which was by and large only the tech industry. I'm not looking to go on a full analysis of "racism in the world" in HN comments today lols